The present disclosure relates to an operation panel support mechanism and an image forming apparatus having the same, more particularly, to an operation panel support mechanism for mounting an operation panel onto an apparatus main body and to an image forming apparatus having the operation panel support mechanism.
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus is provided with an operation panel that has an operation button and a display portion which are operated by a user. The operation panel is usually fixed to a main body of the image forming apparatus. However, in the fixed type of operation panel, angle adjustment is impossible; accordingly, for example, in a case where the user is a tall or short person, or in a case where the user uses a wheelchair, visibility and operability for the user decline.
Accordingly, an image forming apparatus is proposed, in which an operation panel is swingable up and down. As such image forming apparatuses, for example, an image forming apparatus is known, in which it is possible to fix an angle of the operation panel at several steps by unlocking a lever member, and another image forming apparatus is known, which has a so-called free stop function to hold the operation panel at an arbitrary angle. The image forming apparatus having a so-called free stop function is able to improve the visibility and operability for the user compared with the image forming apparatus that can fix the angle of the operation panel at only several steps.